As Managing Editor of Screen Rant, I, Kofi Outlaw, was fortunate enough to be included in a discussion on the topic of Star Wars‘ future alongside AMC Theaters’ John Campea and THE ultimate fangirl, Jenna Busch, entertainment editor of Fanhattan. Check out our breakdown of the situation in the video above.

As I stated in the video: the fact of the matter is, whether you love or hate the Star Wars prequels, it’s hard to deny that George Lucas isn’t quite the filmmaker he used to be. Even if you still passionately defend the Star Wars franchise – through Episodes I – III, the Clone Wars cartoon series, etc. – it’s hard to extend that same defense to, say, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull or Red Tails. And whether you were aware of it or not, there has been a cadre of fans who have been waiting for Star Wars to be released from the grip of Lucas and given a fresh start. Well, today those fans are having their dutiful prayers answered.

The new (evil?) empire.

Make no mistake, though: the future is uncertain. Disney’s launch of big-dollar box office properties has been as much miss (Tron Legacy, John Carter) as it has been hit (Marvel’s The Avengers). So there are no real guarantees about which side of the line Star Wars is going to land on. As John Campea pointed out in our discussion: if 2015 is indeed the release date that Disney is settling on for Star Wars 7 – a year that includes major releases like The Avengers 2, Justice League, and Avatar 2 – then the ball is already rolling on this next phase of the space opera, and the blueprint has already been mapped out.

Stay tuned, as more about this big development is sure to be revealed in the coming weeks and months.